Hardships in Mass. spur Brazilian exodus

The Boston Globe ^ | 01/08/08 | Brian R. Ballou

[Andy'smom]

FRAMINGHAM - Francisco Neto left Brazil for Marlborough in 1995, lured by his version of the American dream: the possibility of steady pay and an exchange rate that would triple the money he would send back home to struggling relatives.

But after almost 12 years, he plans to return home to the central Brazilian city of Goinia, joining thousands of Brazilians who no longer see the advantage of living here. The decline in the dollar has cut in half the value of the $700 Neto sends home each month: Five years ago, it was worth 2,450 Brazilian real; today only 1,225 real.

That decline, plus a surging Brazilian economy, is making Brazilians reassess the hardships of living in the United States, apart from their families, in a country where it is often difficult to be an immigrant, even for someone with a residence permit like Neto.

Between 5,000 and 7,000 Brazilians left Massachusetts and returned to Brazil in 2007, according to estimates by the Brazilian Immigrant Center, a nonprofit agency based in Allston. The center estimated that between 2,000 and 3,000 Brazilians returned to their homeland in 2006.

The 2000 US Census listed 39,000 people of Brazilian descent living in the state; the number grew to 73,000 in 2006, according to the American Community Survey, an annual population survey by the US Census Bureau. But that number does not include Brazilians living here without proper documentation. Some estimates put the total number of Brazilian immigrants as high as 230,000.

[Andy'smom]

Brazilians are the second-fastest growing group of illegal immigrants.

[mtairycitizen]

Not sure how we are supposed to feel about this.
It seems that somehow this is America’s fault that
he had to return.

[Joe Boucher]

“Between 5,000 and 7,000 Brazilians left Massachusetts and returned to”
Good, go and take a few illegal Mexicans with ya.

[ARE SOLE]

Hasta los heavos!

Regards

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Nice to know that they were only here for the gringo greenback.

[MattinNJ]

I post this whenever I get a chance so forgive me if I repeat myself. A lot of people, myself included, who thought nothing of using day laborers to work on their yards etc...ten years ago absolutely refuse to do so now.

Congress can refuse to build the fence, but if John and Suzy homeowners refuse to use landscapers, roofers, etc....that employ illegal aliens they will go home on their own.

[Travis McGee]

I thought it was Pakistanis. That’s what the Huckster said, so it must be true.

[jiggyboy]

“Self-deportation” is the answer to those (even Victor Davis Hanson) who wring their hands about the impossibility of “rounding up twelve million illegals”.

[ottbmare]

Bye.

[Dems_R_Losers]

My parents live in Panama City Beach, Florida and tell me that all the Mexicans have left there. The condo boom has busted and there aren't any construction jobs so they all went home. At one time there were 15 of them living in a 2-bedroom house next door to my brother. They are all gone.

It never occurred to me that the decline in the dollar could help us get rid of the illegals. It's also attracting lots of European and South American money into our slow real estate markets and people to our tourist spots. On New Year's Day I was in New York City and heard more German than English being spoken as I walked down Fifth Avenue.

[CASchack]

Well, it’s a good start.

[AmericanMade1776]

mtairycitizen wrote: Not sure how we are supposed to feel about this. It seems that somehow this is America’s fault that he had to return.

We should feel that its Massachusetts Fault.

[bcsco]

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[AmericanMade1776]

I doubt it was the decline of the dollar, but more the Condo boom bust. NO work..no dollar.

[Andy'smom]

Yeah, I know. I’m so sad.

[muawiyah]

Depends on how you count your Pakistanis ~ you do realize that all these counts of illegal aliens are based on quite flimsy evidence. There could be many more or many fewer but we would never know (short of a house to house roundup of course).

Part of the theory of counting illegals depends on the commonsense observation that wherever you have a lot of LEGAL immigrants you will have a lot of ILLEGAL entrants from the same country.

That means if you have a lot of Paks with visas you'll have a lot of Paks without visas.

In this area the "fastest growing" group are probably Korean. Used to be Salvadorans, and even earlier Paks and Indians.

Because of improving economic opportunity "down home" many Indian immigrants in this area have actually gone back to direct their multi-national import/export companies. We know folks who "commute" from Mumbai engaging in new hightech businesses.

It's a big world out there and it's good that some of Brazils best and brightest are pulling their plugs here and "going down home". They are in an enviable position and well able to help lead Brazil out of the darkness.

[WL-law]

“Not sure how we are supposed to feel about this.
It seems that somehow this is America’s fault that
he had to return.”

The people of Massachusetts, and Americans in general, are supposed to feel bad.

But the real story is — why would ANYBODY want to live in Massachusetts? How much of a difference in gross income do you have to make to put up with:
-> the TAXES,
-> the omnipresence of the state on your back all the time, including turning regular fees into larcenous tax-supplements
-> the one-party-controls-everything, North Korea - like political atmosphere, including that every time a politician opens his mouth you realize that you are being controlled by the “Kennedy cult” (where politicians have to look and sound like Kennedys in order to enter the political class)
-> suffocating political correctness, manifested in a culture that is totally anti-religious but that embraces everything ‘gay’ — and one that is determined and hell-bent to bankrupt the Catholic Church (and Brazilians are mainly Catholic)

And of course there’s the weather.

[snoringbear]

““Between 5,000 and 7,000 Brazilians left Massachusetts and returned to””

Agree; just so long as Heidi Klum is not one of them. She can stay as long as she wants to, green card or no. Just a side thought; although she is a native born Brazilian, it would be interesting to know her linage. By her looks and name, it would appear that she may be a descendant of German extraction - perhaps some German migrants immediately following WWII?

[mtairycitizen]

From one socialist paradise to another.

Such a pity.

[Joe Boucher]

Rumor has it that one or two Nazis fled to Brazil near the end and after WWII.